A fish named Dory, voiced by talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, led one of the movies that grossed more than $1 billion this year.

The sequel built off the popularity of its predecessor, “Finding Nemo,” and included characters from the 2003 original, ranging from the clownfish-protagonist to a sea turtle that talked like a mellow surfer.

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With “Finding Dory,” the second-highest-grossing movie of 2016, The Walt Disney Studios launched half of the 10 most-popular movies of the year and generated more than $7 billion in movie-related revenue worldwide.

How? Perhaps the biggest factor was that five different studios of the company tapped into multiple fan bases and audiences. This year also marked the first time those Disney brands have all released films in the same calendar year, the company noted.

Besides Disney, three other companies were part of this year’s top 10 list of highest-grossing movies. Illumination Entertainment, an affiliated studio of Universal Pictures, created an original animation with “The Secret Life of Pets,” and 20th Century Fox saw success with the antihero “Deadpool.” Warner Bros. adapted comic books to the screen with “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Suicide Squad” and spun off a film of the Harry Potter book and movie series with “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”

While a movie’s profit depends on more than just sales, Disney clearly found a way to work its magic into the minds of moviegoers.

Here’s a breakdown of how different brands delivered the most revenue across the globe as of Wednesday, according to boxofficemojo.com, the website focused on movie ticket sales that’s owned by Amazon through IMDb.com. But “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” was also catching up since its Dec. 16 release date. The production company involved? Lucasfilm, which Disney bought.

Superheroes that sell

“Captain America: Civil War” generated more than $1.1 billion as the top-grossing movie. The movie was the first one of the year to cross the $1 billion mark, featured two superheroes, Captain America and Iron Man, and showed once again that people cannot get enough of Marvel Studios characters.

“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” delivered $873 million as the sixth-highest-grossing movie. It brought in Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne and Henry Cavill as Clark Kent, paid tribute to the superheroes' joint comic book appearances, and generated debate over whether it was a total success or failure.

“Deadpool” raked in $783 million as the seventh-highest-grossing movie. Ryan Reynolds starred as the film’s titular character, the film gives another dark twist to the comic book genre and it was the only movie on the top 10 list that’s rated R.

“Suicide Squad” captured nearly $746 million as the eighth-highest-grossing movie. The movie’s PG-13 rating generated some debate over whether movie ratings should be revised because of violence depicted in the film. Warner Bros. will feature a spinoff movie, too, thanks to Margot Robbie’s role as the crazy supervillain Harley Quinn.

“Doctor Strange” brought in $654 million as the 10th-highest-grossing movie. It featured British actor Benedict Cumberbatch as the movie’s titular neurosurgeon-turned-sorcerer. Critics also praised the film’s mind-bending special effects, and the movie has yet to be released in Japan.

Animated animals

“Zootopia,” generated $1 billion as the third-highest-grossing movie. It was also the third movie connected with Disney that reached the billion-dollar benchmark this year, with a huge chunk coming from China, where it had the country’s highest-ever ticket sales for an animated movie, according to the company.

“The Jungle Book” delivered nearly $967 million as the fourth-highest-grossing movie. The movie re-made the 1967 version, an animated musical comedy, using new computer-generated imagery. And according to Disney, it marked the biggest Western release of all time in India.

“The Secret Life of Pets” landed $875 million as the fifth-highest-grossing movie. The star-studded cast features Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Ellie Kemper, Albert Brooks and Dana Carvey, just to name a few.

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” generated nearly $721 million as the ninth-highest-grossing movie. The film expands author J.K. Rowling’s American world of witches and wizards and centers around a British zoologist whose magical briefcase causes trouble in New York.